I received an e-mail recently from a client complaining about the forms he was being asked to complete by brokers through whom he had placed surplus lines policies. Those forms asked him to name the admitted insurance companies from whom he had tried to obtain the insurance coverage sought before obtaining the surplus lines policy […]
Read more...Category: New Laws/Court Decisions
Federal Tax Reform – Traps for the Unwary
Last week, I listened to a webinar about the effect of the 2017 tax reform legislation on independent insurance agents. It was put on by the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America and contained a lot of useful information (click here to see the slides from the webinar). The focus of the webinar […]
Read more...Website Privacy Notices – An Update
Almost three years ago, I wrote a post titled, “Must an Agency Website Contain a Privacy Statement?“. My conclusion was that such a statement was required only if the website could be used to collect “nonpublic personal information” about someone who visited it. This would be the case, for example, if a potential customer […]
Read more...New Laws – Part 2
In my last post, I talked about the hands free, or distracted driving, law that took effect on July 1, 2018. That law was probably the most widely publicized new law passed by this year’s General Assembly and for good reason. However, there was another new law specifically affecting the sale of health insurance that […]
Read more...New Laws Coming Soon
July 1 is an important date every year, as that is the date new laws passed by the Georgia General Assembly earlier in the year (and not vetoed by the Governor) become effective, if another effective date is not specified in the particular law. About this time every year, when the General Assembly has […]
Read more...Interns – The Law Has Changed
With high schools and colleges nearing the end of this academic year, I thought it would be a good time to update my readers on the changes that have occurred in how the U.S. Department of Labor (“USDOL”) looks at the question of whether an intern must be paid for the time they spend performing […]
Read more...Can An Agency Limit The Types Of Insurance Policies It Will Issue?
The answer to the above question seems obvious. The right of a business to choose what types of products and/or services it will provide is fundamental to the successful operation of a free enterprise economy. If every insurance agency had to offer the same types of insurance policies and/or services, competition among them would be […]
Read more...Use of Text Messages by Insurance Agents
All the marketing articles I have seen recently advise insurance agencies and other businesses to be accessible to their customers and potential customers using every means of communication available. One of those means is sending text messages to a mobile telephone number. The IIABA recently published a memorandum on the legal requirements that must be met by insurance agencies […]
Read more...New PEO Regulation
Last weekend, I attended an insurance agency function at which the Insurance Commissioner, Ralph Hudgens, spoke. In his speech, he mentioned that a new regulation governing the sale of insurance products by Professional Employer Organizations (“PEOs”) has been adopted by his office. That regulation will take effect on February 14, 2018. It amends Sections 120-2-3-.03 […]
Read more...Insurance Certificates – Use of Additional Remarks Schedule
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog post on the legality of agents issuing opinion letters about the coverages provided by their insured’s insurance policies. The next week, I received an email from a participant in the Free Legal Service Program that I run for the Independent Insurance Agents of Georgia asking me to […]
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